Through a performance in the derelict Ottoman Railway Station of Jerusalem, a new vision for Jerusalem is suggested –not so much of its future, but of its past. Why? Because, in a place where history is the fuel for politics, any attempt to break free from vicious cycles will remain locked to the rail tracks of an over-determined history of bigotry, hatred and zealousness – unless we are able to give a different reading of history.
And we can – by looking at the pre-history of the conflict, the modern Jerusalem that came into being between the 1850s and 1917. Late Ottoman Jerusalem presented possibilities that were later blocked by British and Israeli policies, and by the emergence of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. That Jerusalem – pluralist and aspiring -is the playground that is recalled to imagine options for the city in 2050.
That Jerusalem is still with us, by and large – the buildings, the neighbourhoods, the streets, they make what is today the core of the city. Yet their meaning was wholly transformed: upper-class neighbourhoods where once Muslims, Christians and Jews lived side by side turned into slums; seedy Jewish shantyneighbourhoods were gentrified; and the symbols of co-operation towards a vision of modern Jerusalem – most notably the train station – left in ruins.
The task, therefore, is to bring Ottoman Jerusalem to the surface. It lies dormant beneath it; yet it can be spelled out, celebrated, laughed at – rescued! What is necessary is not so much an urban transformation, but rather a new vision – literally, a new observation of things that are already there. Through interspersed fragments of dialogue, slide lecture and interventions -the performance invokes an image of a new past, and of an old future.
